Good Intentions
by Passiona
Summary: A girl desperate to find and help a people she has never met, is plunged into a daring rescue as she, along with newly met friends attempt to restore a defeated Tribe. The journey is filled with struggle, friendship and the intentions to help. Can they?
1. The Beginning

Chapter One: The Beginning

White. All that the eye could see.

A brilliant landscape sheathed utterly in white. Great drifts and hills of it. Nothing but white; and yet, hidden among the pristine windswept ocean of snow lay a ruin of fallen buildings and the charred remains of tents. This was the Southern Water Tribe.

Nearly nothing remained of the once proud city. The ruthless soldiers of the Fire Nation had once again raided the people of the Water Tribe. They had survived for so long under countless attacks but not this time. This time, the Fire Nation had not even left the /people/ among the wreckage. This was the horrible sight that greeted the small party from the Northern Water Tribe. They had set out weeks before to help their sister-tribe members only to find that they were too late. Master Paku, the leader of the small group had immediately taken charge of the ghastly situation.

Every person there was capable at water bending so they were all soon rebuilding the snow structures in earnest. Though one member of the party was not satisfied just to rebuild. This persons name was Naeco. She was the first girl to be taught by Master Paku after Master Katara had left. She had followed him for days, constantly asking him to teach her. Finally, he had given in, much to her delight. Naeco, unlike the others, believed that they should search for the people of their sister-tribe instead of rebuilding. But when she approached Master Paku he refused saying that if they were even still alive they would be far in Fire Nation territory; a place they could not enter with so few people. Naeco had left it at that, knowing she could not win with words. Though secretly she vowed that she would not rest until the people of the Southern Tribe were safely found. So now, the young girl stood on the edge of a snow-strewn cliff, over looking the vast emptiness of the South Pole.

A chill wind blew around her, rustling the dark blue fabric of the Northern Water Tribe. Her eyes, which also marked her as water tribe, searched the barren landscape for life without success. The bright orbs moved ceaselessly as her tireless search continued. In the center of those orbs was a black like the fathomless depths of the ocean. Surrounding this was a clear blue like a deep pool shaded by trees under the shimmering rays of the moon. Around the bright blue was a clean white, much like the foam that crests waves as they crash upon a rocky shore.

The wind continued to swirl around her causing Naeco's black hair to fly around her face. Her hair was her most unusual trait. As a child she had been born weak and sickly. Her parents had brought her to the Spirit Oasis and much like Princess Yue, Naeco's life had been saved by the Spirits. Only in her case it was La the Spirit of the Ocean who had poured some of its life into her, under a New Moon. "Naeco", a voice cut through the silence of the frozen tundra. She turned slowly to face the owner of the voice. "Master Paku" she quietly murmured, lowering her eyes. "Don't you think it's time to retire for the day? The sun is nearly set."

"I'll come in a moment." Was her soft reply as she turned away from him. She felt the weight of his hand on her shoulder, being unusually kind. "You're not still thinking about that are you?" Naeco remained silent. "Just remember what I told you. There's nothing you can do to save them. If you tried to follow them into the Fire Nation you'd be killed." Still, Naeco refused to speak. "Don't stay out too long." Master Paku said. She heard him walk away. Still she remained standing there, long after his footsteps had faded away. As the moon slowly rose above the horizon, a plan began to form in her mind.

The words of Master Paku were quickly forgotten. After a few minutes of quick planning, Naeco slowly walked back to camp. She stealthily avoided the main building where the others were resting after their hard day of work. She grabbed a few items including a canoe. She placed the canoe in the water and gently loaded it. Naeco turned to face camp where she could still faintly hear the happy conversations. As she turned to step into the canoe, she silently promised that she would return and explain everything. That had been a month ago and she had long ago abandoned her canoe. Naeco had finally found the location of the Avatar and his friends.

She had planned on entering Ba Sing Se but her plans had been dashed upon discovering that the Fire Nation had struck and defeated Ba Sing Se as well. Put back but not deterred, Naeco discovered that the Avatar had been spotted in a forest not too far from Ba Sing Se. She had quickly entered the woods in hopes of finding him and his friends. She slowly passed beneath the trees, making sure to listen intently for any sounds. After all, the Avatar wasn't the only one out there. Other less friendly people would be taking refuge in the 'safety' of the forest and Naeco didn't have the time or patience to fight anyone. She wasn't even sure if the Avatar and his friends would be /able/ to help. All she knew was that they were her last chance.


	2. A Meeting

Chapter Two: A Meeting

The sound of steady footsteps seemed to reverberate in the nearly silent forest. Naeco continued on her search for the Avatar. All she could think about was the sight of the destroyed Water Tribe and what might have happened after she had left. She sighed sadly wondering if she had made the right choice. But the more Naeco thought about it, the more she believed that leaving had been the only way. After all, if she had stayed then there would have been no chance of the Avatar and his friends finding out about the Southern Tribe.

But still... What if Master Paku thought she had abandoned them, or been attacked and captured? That would be horrible and she shuddered at the thought. As distracted as she was, Naeco did not realize where she was walking. "HEY YOU!" A voice bellowed as a figure jumped in front of her. "Aiyee!" Naeco yelped jumping backwards. When she finally regained her bearings she realized that the person who had 'attacked' her was only a small boy. Maybe around eight.

"Yes?" Naeco asked him. The small boy walked stiffly up to her and looked right up into her face with scrutiny. "You're not the Avatar." He stated, a frown tugging at his lips. "The Avatar? No, I'm not." She replied. The boy continued to stare right at her. "Umm is there something I can help you with?" She asked inching back from him. She was so close to him she could see every detail of his face. From his sprinkling of fine freckles to his sandy hair and the tanned skin of someone who spent most of their days in the sun. He shook his head, making his freckles blur and his shaggy hair to wave.

"Well actually... You're a water bender aren't you?" Naeco nodded in reply. "Do you travel with the Avatar? I know a water bender travels with him." "No, that's not me. The water bender you're thinking of is from the Southern Tribe." She mentally flinched at the thought of the destroyed tribe but she quickly expelled the unhappy memory. "Oh." The boy said softly. "What's your name?" He suddenly asked, looking back at her.

Naeco thought for a moment then replied. "My name is Naeco, of the Northern Water Tribe." She dipped her head slightly having been handicapped with good manners. "Hi Naeco, I'm Yukio." Naeco cocked her head in confusion as he had only stated his name. "Well where are you from?" At this question Yukio took a few steps back and looked haughtily at her. "I am from no where." He smirked. Naeco looked at him in confusion. Yukio sighed and began to explain. "I live with a bunch of other kids in the Earth Kingdom. But not in a town. We live where we need to. I'm a freedom fighter!" He exclaimed, eyes dancing.

Naeco watched him. "Well, does that mean there are more of you in these woods?" She glanced around half expecting a bunch of boys to suddenly appear. But he shook his head. "No, I'm the only one here. Our leader sent me on a mission. He was hurt and asked me to deliver some things to the Avatar." He said with pride. With this he motioned to a slim scroll attached to his small belt. She hadn't noticed it until then and she looked at it curiously. Yukio noticed her look but didn't bother explaining what the scroll contained. After all even /he/ didn't know. "What are you doing here anyways?" He asked her curiously.

Naeco hesitated, wondering if he was trustworthy. Well, she had told him her name so there wasn't really any going back. Naeco looked down at her hands, thinking hard; she sighed then looked back at him, her eyes full of sorrow. It all started about a month ago..." Naeco began. "The Northern Tribe had just survived a brutal attack by the Fire Nation." She waited for recognition and received it. Yukio nodded knowingly and said quieter then he had spoken since he had met her: "Yes, I heard about that." Naeco nodded and continued her story.

"Well, Master Paku and many others including myself headed down to our Sister Tribe in the South Pole, hoping to help them out. But when we arrived..." Naeco's voice was hushed and Yukio leaned closely to her, absorbing every word she uttered. It took several minutes for the entire story to be told and not /once/ did Yukio interrupt, except with understanding nods every now and again. "And so now I have to find the Avatar. Only /he/ can help me save those people." A strange fire blazed in her blue eyes and she looked at Yukio as if daring him to say that the tribe members had to be dead. That there was no way they could have survived.

But Yukio didn't say that. In fact, he was silent for a very long time until: "I have something besides the scroll." He said quietly. My leader told me to give this, to a water bender that he said I would meet." Slowly he revealed a small ring from his pocket. It was a pretty thing glistening in the palm of his hand. It was green and altogether plain, with no gems or anything and yet... The ring seemed to glow as if it contained a light of its own. Slowly Yukio handed it over and Naeco took it tenderly into her fingers. Upon closer examination she discovered that the ring was made out of a green crystal. "It's beautiful." She whispered, running her fingers along its surface. "Keep it." was his reply. "What?" She looked up from the ring at him startled. "I said keep it. He said to give it to a water bender and you /are/ a water bender."

Naeco sighed. "But how do you know that it was for me?" "I don't" He replied grinning from ear to ear. "But, maybe we can travel together. Then we can give it to someone else if we have to. After all, we both need to find the Avatar." Naeco nodded. This was true. "OK" She agreed. "It will be easier to find the Avatar with some help." Naeco smiled. "All right!" Yukio grinned even broader. He punched the air, spun around and started stalking deeper into the forest. Quickly Naeco slipped the ring on her right forefinger. She looked up and realized Yukio was already far ahead of her. "Hey, slow down a bit!" Naeco called after him. "Can't!" He yelled back. "You just need to /walk/ faster!" Naeco shook her head and picked up her pace, chasing after the young boy.


	3. Capture!

Chapter Three: Capture!

After about an hour of this relentless pace, Yukio finally began to slow. When Naeco noticed this, she too slowed down. Finally, they both stopped and stood panting beside each other. "I can't believe we haven't found him yet!" Yukio yelled, stamping his foot to the ground. "I mean, we've been searching forever!" Naeco looked over at the fuming boy but didn't reply, for she was busy catching her breath. However, Yukio didn't seem to notice her silence. He continued to mutter angrily to himself. Naeco had at last started breathing normally. She kicked a few leaves moodily. Though she didn't voice it, she was just as mad and frustrated as Yukio was.

Finally after a few minutes of quiet anger Naeco spoke up. "Listen, let's just keep going. We will never find him just sitting here." She stood and started walking away. "We /tried/ walking aimlessly around and we didn't find him" Yukio grumbled behind her. Naeco sighed. "What else do you want us to do? We can't just yell out for him." "Yeah we can!" Yukio shouted. Then to Naeco's dismay he suddenly hollered, "Hey! Avatar!!! Hello!! We need to talk to you! Just follow the sound of my voice!" Naeco whirled around and ran back to Yukio putting her hand over his mouth. "What are you doing?" She hissed.

Yukio struggled against her, finally prying her fingers from his mouth. He glared reproachfully at her. "I'm calling the Avatar, what's it look like?" "All you're doing is letting the entire forest know where we are!" Naeco towered over the boy. He seemed to shrink before her. Realizing she was scaring him, Naeco softened her expression and lowered her voice. "Look, just don't do it again OK?" Yukio, having recovered from his sudden fright glared at her but nodded. Naeco had just begun to walk again when she heard a loud 'crack'. She stiffened at the noise and looked warily around her.

"What was that?" Yukio whispered. Naeco shook her head meaning she wasn't sure. Suddenly another yell split the quiet of the forest. Only this time it wasn't the shouts of Yukio calling the Avatar. It was the yell of a full-grown man. In fact it sounded like more than one. "Yukio...?" Naeco called uncertainly. They stood there for a few tense moments then Yukio yelped and several uniformed persons came crashing into the clearing. "We finally found you!" One of them snarled. The one who said this had Yukio in a headlock. Upon seeing this Naeco bent out some water and charged him. She noticed that they wore Fire Nation uniforms and a strange flicker appeared in her eyes. It was pure hatred. Images of the destroyed village exploded in her minds eye and she was filled with a terrible rage.

"Let him go!" She yelled. Naeco formed the water into the shape of a whip and brought it crashing down on him, though she was careful to not hit Yukio. The soldier's eyes widened in shock and released Yukio to dive out of the way. Seeing his chance, Yukio jumped away and dived out of the way as two more soldiers attempted to grab him. Recovering from his shock, the first soldier sent a blast of fire straight at Naeco. Seeing this she narrowed her eyes and brought water together in front of her. She quickly formed it into a spear and froze it. Then she created two ropes of water and placed them on either side of her. With the spear in front and water on either side, Naeco charged right into the jet of flame. She smirked at the soldier's expression.

As she barreled through the flame the ice spear began to diminish in size and a billowing cloud of steam rose skyward. When the flame had disappeared and her spear was nearly gone, Naeco brought the right water whip crashing into the soldier's side. When he was flung into the air she brought the left water whip at him. Droplets of water hung in the air around her and the soldier fell to the ground behind her. She turned and saw him collapsed in the dirt. Standing straight again, Naeco turned to the other soldiers. They all were staring at her. "What? Never seen a waterbender use an offense style of fighting?" A slight sneer was embedded in her voice.

The soldiers didn't answer. They looked to each other, nodded and they all sent a stream of fire at her. Seeing herself in the middle of the attacks, Naeco bent out a single tendril of water. She jumped up and just as her feet left the ground, Naeco sent the water rushing at the ground, sending her shooting into the air. Below her, the jets of fire collided and she sent a large spear of ice directly into the heart of it. A huge explosion emitted and a gigantic cloud of steam rose. Still airborne, Naeco took control of the steam and bent it into a swirling mass around her.

As she began to fall back to earth, Naeco brought her arms down, bending all the steam down on the soldiers. She landed on one knee, her hand on the ground supporting her. She stood slowly and eyed the damage. A large circle had been made where the steam had knocked the trees away and many of them had been stripped of their leaves. It suddenly seemed very quiet to Naeco and after taking a closer look at her surroundings Naeco realized why: She was all alone. Sometime during her attack, the soldiers /and/ Yukio had disappeared. "Oh no... What am I going to do?" Naeco whispered looking around herself helplessly. As she stood in the middle of the clearing, a cold wind blew past her bringing a thick fog with it. Its cloudy fingers groped at Naeco and chilled her to the bone. She shivered though it had nothing to do with the strange weather.


	4. A Rescue?

Chapter Four: A Rescue?

A deathly quiet seemed to fill the forest as Naeco walked past the whispering trees. She didn't have the slightest idea where they might have taken Yukio. For all she knew, they could be miles away by now. Maybe even out of the forest! But no... She could not think like that. Yukio was in the forest and she was going to find him. Of this she was certain. For what seemed like hours Naeco wandered past the dark trees, with only her thoughts to keep her company. And they were not pleasant ones. She couldnt stop thinking about what might happen to Yukio if she didn't find him... Naeco shook her head, forcing herself to stop thinking such things.

Suddenly Naeco felt something beneath her foot that was not leaves or the hard turf of the forest. It was soft and it crunched... But wait/crunched/? That couldn't be normal. Dreading what she might see, Naeco look down. To her surprise, she saw not something unpleasant, but instead what looked like paper... Naeco quickly removed her foot and reached down to pick it up. She stood and examined it closely. It was a scroll, but not just ANY scroll. "Yukio..." She whispered, clutching the rolled up piece of paper tightly before tucking it into a pocket and walking on.

/He dropped it on purpose so I could find him!/ She thought with excitement. That was the only explanation. /No it's not.../ a nasty little voice broke in. /He could have been forced to drop it./ the voice whispered wickedly. /No!/ Naeco thought back. /No, he dropped it on purpose and that's that./ Naeco thought angrily, forcing herself to believe it. She shook her head and quickened her pace. "If I was Fire Nation, where would I go?" Naeco spoke quietly to herself, unable to imagine herself being one of those she hated so much.

Several ideas went through her mind as she forgot about the first but suddenly, ideas were no longer required. For at that very moment, the smell of smoke reached her. The acrid scent seemed to burn as it entered her lungs and she fought back a cough with tears beginning in her eyes. Getting a grip on herself, Naeco strode in the direction where the smell seemed strongest, her heart growing bold as the smoke became visible. For now she /could/ see, as well as smell, the hanging curtains of gray smoke swirling in the light breeze, stinging her eyes as she passed quickly through it.

Eventually the smoke became so thick that she could hardly see the surrounding trees. And then, the trees disappeared, leaving a circular open space where the blue sky could be easily seen. And placed in the center of the clearing was a single large tree. And tied to this tree was Yukio; several small burns and scrapes on his bare arms and face but alive. Naeco never thought that she would be this happy to see someone if they weren't a member of the Southern Water Tribe. And yet, bubbling up inside her was a happiness she had never known before. But it did not last for long. Surrounding her friend was at least a dozen Fire Nation soldiers, all armed and staring angrily at her. For several moments, both sides stared at each other, hardly daring to breathe. The silence was so complete that you could have heard a feather drop. That is, until Yukio yelled. "Naeco, get out of here!!" A wild frenzy was in his eyes as he struggled futily against the ropes that bound him.

In an instant it was revealed why Yukio was covered in burns. The nearest soldier put his hand out and a jet of flame shot from his fingers, coming dangerously close to her friend. She saw the orange flames reflected in his fearful eyes and his desperate struggle to escape the licking tongues of heat. "Get away from him!" Naeco yelled, eyes flashing and arms raised to attack. The surrounding soldiers laughed and one walked forward and began to speak. "This boy is our prisoner, you should leave now if you want to stay alive." There was no hint of laughter in his voice. "Is that a threat?" She asked, head cocked to the side.


End file.
